Are authors required to fact-check themselves?
In 2007, I caved and bought Apple's original iPhone.
Having a fully functional web browser on a mobile device was too tempting, and as someone with a lousy sense of direction, I wanted the maps. So that winter, I paid AT&T $600 for the iPhone with a two-year contract. For a while, I relished being among the privileged few to live in the future.
That special feeling faded about six months later when Apple released the second-generation iPhone. Not only did the new model connect with 3G, a much faster cellular technology at the time, but it started at just $200 with a contract. Ouch.
The iPhone launched in June 2007 with a 4GB model at $499 and an 8GB model at $599.
In September 2007, they killed the 4 GB model (people were buying the 8GB model over the 4GB model by around 5 or 10 to 1) and they reduced the price of the 8GB model to $399. They gave anyone who paid $499 or $599 a $100 store credit.
In July 2008, they introduced the 8GB 3G at $199 (with contract).
So his claim of "about six months" to go from $599 to $199 would have been at least ten months -- September 2007 to July 2008 -- and that ignores the $100 credit.
But he didn't pay $599 EVER. He says he bought it in "winter" at the "end of 2007", so let's call that December. That's still about 8 months until the 3G launched, and no way did he pay $599 at any point in December. The iPhone had been $399 for 3 months by that point. So either his dates are wrong, or he actually went from $399 to $199 at any point after September. But that's not nearly as dramatic of a story, is it?
No matter which way you slice it, he's somewhere between "exaggerating" and "totally wrong".